Tag Archives: Mended Hearts

Monday, 12 Weeks Post-Op

Posted on by MaryO

falling-behind

Looks like I’m falling w-a-y behind again.  That’s a pretty good thing since that means normal life is resuming.

When we started rehab, DH was the only student – now there are 5 and they seem to get along pretty well.  Slowly but surely, the challenges are getting greater.  Today (or soon) he will start using weights.

Today’s hav is 14 of 36, just over 1/3 of the way through.

He’s been driving pretty normally for a few weeks but still can’t walk the dog.  Maybe that will come after the weights get started.

We had our class with the dietician and there was only one other woman in the class so it was more of a private session.  At the end, 3 of the guys from Mended Hearts came in to see if we had questions.  One said that he liked having me in the meetings and talking about the role of the caregiver!  This is just not me, talking in any group!

Last week, we had out one-on-one with the dietician.  I’d pretty much already learned most of it from online and books but it was good to check.

This week, on Tuesday, we have a class on how the surgery is performed.  I’ve seen videos but it will be nice to see what they have to offer.  We can also observe a live surgery.  We’ll see!

Last week, on Tuesday, we had the privilege of attending a Congressional Caucus on Rare Diseases.  I took the opportunity (of course!) to say a few words about Cushing’s.  If you’re interested, my write-up is here:  Cushing’s on Capitol Hill.

I have an opportunity for a conference in San Francisco in June.  I happened to have airplane credits so I, without thinking, I got 2 tickets.  Hopefully, DH has the go-ahead to fly by then!

I’m amazed at how well things are going at the 3 month mark.  Hopefully, it’s smooth sailing from here on out!

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Wednesday, Nine Weeks Post-Op

Posted on by MaryO

day-late

Running Late!  The Nine Week Anniversary was 2 days ago.  I got so tired singing  Holy Thursday, Good Friday and three Easter Services that I’ve just been resting up for a few days.

It also turned out that our son came home Thursday night, after rehab, after that service so my energy has been really sapped.

DH is still doing well, the rehab continues and he’s done 5 as of today.  We also signed up for our first patient meeting next Tuesday and a class on Cardiac Valve Surgery later this month.

So…we have rehab Wednesday and Thursday this week, Mended Hearts on Saturday, Monday rehab, Tuesday patient meeting, Wednesday and Thursday rehab…

Soon we’ll be experts!

Because DS was here, we ate some foods that I doubt are on the new diet.  I hope that there are no setbacks because of this.

Yesterday was one of those busy days.  A friend happened to call on Monday while we were driving back from rehab and DH took the call since I was driving.  As a result, DH, DS, my mom and I all went out with the friend in the afternoon.  In the morning, I had a staff meeting for work.  Our son decided that it was closer for him to take the train back to NYC from our friend’s, so we swung by the train station on the way home.

A tiring, but fun, day.  Our friend also has stairs up to her house, so it was one of the first times DH climbed a lot of them.

In church on Sunday, someone prayed for another who had had surgery before DH’s and wasn’t doing well yet.  It makes me very thankful for how well things are working out here.

 

 

 

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Starting Cardiac Rehab

Posted on by MaryO

cardiac-rehab-fairfax

 

It’s started finally!   Tuesday, March 26, 2013 was DH’s first day in Cardiac Rehab, just over 8 weeks post-op.  This was an “intake appointment”, and much longer than the normal ones will be.

We got to choose when the future class would be – either Monday-Wednesday-Friday at 7:00 am or Monday-Wednesday-Thursday at 1:00pm.  Anyone who knows me knows that I chose the afternoon class.  I just didn’t want to get up that early and have to deal with early morning rush hour each of those days.

Diana, the intake nurse was very nice – in fact, everyone we met was.

First things first – money.  We found out that his insurance would pay for most but that there would be a $15 copay each session.  However, we did get a parking voucher saving us $5 on the parking garage.

Description unavailable

Description unavailable (Photo credit: pennstatenews)

We got a packet of information on all kinds of things, including food guides – what to eat, what not to eat.  Hooray!

I noticed a poster showing the image (right) for choosemyplate.gov.  I looked at that site when it first came out – and I’m looking again!

Diana was the one who set up the class times, as well.

Next was Claire, a nurse.  She checked all the meds and vitamins that DH takes.  She said that saw palmetto interfered with one of  his prescriptions and she suggested we take the list to CVS so that they can look for other interactions.

She did an EKG,  checked pulse in several locations, looked at the  scar, checked blood pressure on both arms (sitting and standing), listened to the carotids.

BP was  136/64 right,   112/60 left,   119/70 standing left.

She made an appointment with the dietician for Wednesday April 17 at  2:30, after a rehab class.

Turns out that there are patient meetings on the second Tuesday of each month.  We’re getting very busy with patient meetings, Mended Hearts and rehab plus doctor appointments!

 

They were out of t-shirts his size so we got one that was very large.  Another one will be forthcoming…sometime.

These shirts are special because they have a pocket for the portable EKG machine over the heart in addition to the obligatory logo on the back.  As luck would have it, DH was wearing a t-shirt with a pocket.

DH was hooked up to the EKG.  I gathered that he’ll do that himself in the future.

Next up – Shelly, an exercise physiologist.  She talked a bit, asked DH how often he got new shoes.  She said that it should be every 6 months.  Who knew?

She said to drink water every 15 minutes while exercising.

DH started off slow – Treadmill 5 minutes; Bike 15 minutes; Walked on indoor track for 4 laps

When he was done, we went to the Healthy Heart Cafe for a bit of lunch.

Wednesday, Day 2

We got there in plenty of time.  DH turned out to be the only person in this class, at least for now.

He did his exercises but was told he needed to eat breakfast in the future – his blood pressure was too low.

It’s becoming a habit – when he was done, we went to the Healthy Heart Cafe for another bit of lunch.

I had bought him a Groupon for a local garden shop as a Christmas gift.  Of course, I had no idea then that he wouldn’t be doing much gardening this year.  In any event, it was going to expire on March 30, so we went there after rehab and got a few things 🙂  They may all become house plants – we’ll see!

Absolute exhaustion by the time we got home.

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Monday – Five Weeks Post-op

Posted on by MaryO

day-mon

Today went pretty well.  DH did some computer work with an employee.  After about 2 hours, DH rested his eyes for a bit while the other guy finished up.

I took the opportunity to go out to do some grocery shopping.  Exciting stuff!

A few phone calls, then DH napped some more – a bit of computer and you know the rest!

Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies

Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sometime before this adventure started, DH had ordered 2 boxes of Girl Scout cookies.

Those arrived this evening and DH said he’d have “just one”.

I didn’t check how many he had but I saw that 4 (the typical serving size for Thin Mints) is 125 mg of sodium.  Possible trouble looming.

Maybe I’ll have to sacrifice myself and eat them all first 🙂

day-tues

Today was a pretty good day.  DH actually did some more work got a testimony ready to file, then some napping.  He went out with a friend to meet some others and actually had half a cup of coffee for the first time since surgery.

While he was out, I went to bell rehearsal to sub for someone else.  A very odd feeling to be subbing in my own group but they’re getting ready for a festival and someone has to ring my position – and it can’t be me.  I won’t be able to be away overnight for a while.

It was nice to be back, even briefly 🙂

day-wed

Up early in the morning for the stress test on the treadmill at the cardiologist.  I dropped DH off at the front door.  By the time I’d parked and gotten upstairs, he was already hooked up to the monitors but they wouldn’t let me go in.

Apparently, he passed with flying colors, all the way up to a 7% grade so he can start cardiac rehab as soon as we can get it set up!

On the way home, we saw my mom out walking so pulled over to say hello.  She was on her way to the library.  She had an appointment with her oncologist next Wednesday and she had been dithering about changing that in case DH’s rehab was on Wednesday mornings.  I told her not to change it – she might change TO the rehab date.  As it turned out, the oncologist had cancelled her.  Problem solved.

We decided to be brave and went to Bob Evans for breakfast.  DH did fairly ok with veggie omelet, egg beaters, fruit plate and dry whole wheat toast.  Another step in getting out into the real world again…

day-thurs

Last night didn’t go well.  I tossed and turned all night.  DH started trying to sleep in our room and went to the recliner about 1:00am, then back to the room about 4:00am.  About 8:00am he was in the recliner again so I guess he didn’t sleep well, either.

The day was like most days – a lot of napping and working.

DH called rehab and he can’t start for 2 weeks.  A bit disappointing 😦

I cleaned out our pantry and got rid of all the canned foods with sodium in them.  I took some to my mom, then took the rest to church to send to Western Fairfax Christian Ministries.

I went to church choir.  They’re getting ready for Holy Week and Easter so there’s lots of new music to learn.  I’m starting to feel less mole-like.

day-fri

Another lazy day.  We were going to go to the mall to walk but work and naps got in the way.

DH is sitting in his recliner listening to some app that will teach him Spanish.

Our son came home and DH actually went with me to Union Station to pick him up from the train.  I parked as close as I could so it was a short walk to the escalator, then another walk, another escalator and a longer walk.

DH was hungry so we went to get some Jamba Juice.  Even though the store was open, they said that they were cleaning up and closed.  DH went into Starbucks against my better judgement and got some kind of strawberry muffin thing.

On the way home, he wanted to go to McDonalds so I went through the drive-through and got 3 shamrock shakes, a grilled chicken sandwich for DH and a quarter pounder, no cheese for me.

Going out into the world is going to wreck all my careful food planning over the last 4 weeks!

day-sat
I woke up at 4:00am with a raging headache, possibly from that shamrock shake.  I’m not used to all that sugar any more 😦  It’s too bad – that’s about the only thing I really like(d) at Mickey D’s.  Oh, well.

At 11 we had our first Mended Hearts meeting.  That went pretty well.  I actually talked some – DH, of course, talked more.  I found it ironic that the snacks included no coffee but the raffle gift was a coffee cup.  HMMM…

It was good listening to other patients and caregivers talking about some of the issues we’ve gone through.

day-sun

 

Today was a take-it-easy day, a bit of TV, napping and playing piano duets with our son.  At night, we took him back to the train station.  Later, DH said that his chest was hurting a bit, probably from so much walking in the train today and Friday and the walking through the parking garage and hospital on Saturday.

Hopefully, a little Tylenol will help.

Next report next Monday…

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